And 0-5? We'll lose twice next week? We won't even lose once. Not against Oakland,

NYG's even worse BTW.

Why is it stupid? It's done that way so that the defense knows when the qb is giving himself up, and they cannot hit him. You will appreciate the rule when Sheli trips when running for a few yards and fumbles... we recover. Do you think the rule is stupid, then? All quarterbacks are coached up on the difference... do it the wrong way at your peril. That fumble was totally on Bob. He knows it, and will own it.

It was CLEAR he was sliding.

As for the overturned TD, I think I can accept that.

What a great athlete, he cant even execute a simple baseball slide. This is grade school stuff.

My thoughts, for what they're worth;
1) Had Aldrick cleanly caught the ball we would probably have won the game and we would all feel totally different about the direction of our team. Had it been ruled incomplete to start with it wouldn't have been so devastating, but when it was overturned the air went out of the players and fans.
2) We are lucky to have Robert Griffin. Since our offense is being called much differently than last year it has essentially become another rookie year for him. Couple that with the loss of an offseason to rehab instead of honing his craft and we are clearly expecting too much of him out of the gate. Yes he has had untimely miscues but I think it just shows how totally dependent we are upon him. Every success we had last year was because of Robert. Alfred Morris excelled because teams keyed on the qb, the offensive line looked ok because of Robert's mobility, everything fed off of Robert. Once we recover from the cap penalties and upgrade the offensive line, Robert will be more able to use the talent around him instead of just having to make something happen when things break down. I think he will get better and better. He will win Super Bowls.
3) I guess this is the worst defense we've ever had. When we first changed to the 3-4 we were told it would take time, we didn't have the personnel. Well it's year 4 and we are as bad as ever. I don't suppose you can change to a 4-3 in the middle of the year but we might be better suited for it. Orakpo is an end, Kerrigan might be better with his hand in the dirt as well. Perry Riley in the middle and London to the old folks home (I love London, but it's happening before our eyes). And the safety situation reminds me of the John Beck/Rex Grossman year, you mean to say the staff watched these guys all through camp and preseason and decided that these are the guys that give us the best chance to win?? Rambo may develop but he looks like a 6th round pick. He may be great down the road, but safety by committee, like we ran toward the end of last year, might have been the way to start the season. Heck, Rambo may be so shell shocked that he may never recover. Somewhere Madieu Williams is enjoying this. One concern I have is the confusion, it's been that way for several years. Our secondary totally blows coverages. Is that not coaching? For all the guys that think Raheem is the answer, is it not his unit that is struggling the most? I hate to make a coaching change during the season but this is exactly the way we felt about Haslett until the late season run. But is Raheem the answer? And why can't we tackle?
4) Maybe defense still wins championships, look at Seattle.
5) It has occurred to me that these are not my thoughts but just a rant, good thing I didn't try this yesterday afternoon.

I wish people would stop talking about how our o-line has looked horrible. Griffin had plenty of time in the pocket yesterday on several passes. If anything the o-line seems to be improving every week, IMO.

StorminMormon86 wrote:I wish people would stop talking about how our o-line has looked horrible. Griffin had plenty of time in the pocket yesterday on several passes. If anything the o-line seems to be improving every week, IMO.

Agree. The old and well worn "it's the OL" argument has been used by many on this site and others in an effort to deflect blame away from QBs or RBs.

In reality, our OL is doing just fine. In fact, they are playing BETTER than last year --- hence the 5.3 avg yards-per-rush and the 4.1 sack % (a 3% reduction from last season.)

Our offensive issues have been a combination of playcalling and RGIII. Nothing else. Everyone but KS and RGIII are carrying their weight. Our offense has only scored 2 meaningful TDs in 3 games and has a highly inflated 17 ppg average. If we had a half-decent defense, this would be closer to 10. Thru 3 games, we already have close to half as many TOs as we did all of last year.

That said, our defense --- thru 3 games --- is on pace to be the WORST IN NFL HISTORY. That is the #1 issue. Then again, what can we do about it? We don't have the personnel (players or coaching) to fix it. We'll just have to take our lumps.

Our offense is bad, but our defense is worse. We need upgrades at 6 of our defensive positions. And if RGIII doesn't improve by week 8, a transition needs to be considered.

StorminMormon86 wrote:I wish people would stop talking about how our o-line has looked horrible. Griffin had plenty of time in the pocket yesterday on several passes. If anything the o-line seems to be improving every week, IMO.

While Bob had plenty of time, it's also true that the running game was in gear, and Bob was breaking out some effective read-option, both of which will slow down a pass rush... Too soon to say the O-line has jelled... none-the-less, I am optimistic that things are happening there.

markshark84 wrote:That said, our defense --- thru 3 games --- is on pace to be the WORST IN NFL HISTORY. That is the #1 issue. Then again, what can we do about it? We don't have the personnel (players or coaching) to fix it. We'll just have to take our lumps.

Yeah, its bad, and you're probably right that we don't have a lot to do to fix it. We are getting a couple players back from suspension soon though. That can't hurt.

Detroit's defense wasn't much better yesterday either. We allowed 451 yards, they allowed 446. And nobody can say that was all garbage time yardage from a prevent defense. Aldrick Robinson hangs on to that beautiful TD pass and its different game. RGIII slides feet forward and its a different game.

markshark84 wrote:Our offensive issues have been a combination of playcalling and RGIII. Nothing else. Everyone but KS and RGIII are carrying their weight. Our offense has only scored 2 meaningful TDs in 3 games and has a highly inflated 17 ppg average. If we had a half-decent defense, this would be closer to 10. Thru 3 games, we already have close to half as many TOs as we did all of last year.

+1

And if you look at Griffin's QBR (which factors out yards accumulated in "garbage time") it's HORRIBLE this year. 26.6! I'm amazed that people still try to shift blame away from Griffin and blame it all on Haslett and the D and our O-Line.

markshark84 wrote:That said, our defense --- thru 3 games --- is on pace to be the WORST IN NFL HISTORY. That is the #1 issue. Then again, what can we do about it? We don't have the personnel (players or coaching) to fix it. We'll just have to take our lumps.

Fixing the D is definitely our main concern going into the next 13 games. No one can tackle. Our secondary is a running joke in the league. Just awful. Even when they show flashes of great play (the D Hall INT return for a TD), the offense cannot capitalize when we need them to.

markshark84 wrote:Our offense is bad, but our defense is worse. We need upgrades at 6 of our defensive positions. And if RGIII doesn't improve by week 8, a transition needs to be considered.

This sums up how I feel except for the transition RGIII by week 8 part. Here's what I don't understand. Some people want to bench him for Kirk Cousins. A lot of people counter that with "yeah well benching him only hurts us in the long term and it makes no sense to try to spark something short term." I just don't understand this at all. The guy is NOT 100%. His own teammates confirm this. So how is letting the very capable, healthy backup play hurt Griffin in the long term? Especially if the guy is not 100%. I still do not ever see Shanny benching Griffin, but after the bye week if Griffin still looks mediocre against the Cowgirls I'd say there should be some serious consideration in benching him.

gregory smith wrote:My thoughts, for what they're worth;1) Had Aldrick cleanly caught the ball we would probably have won the game and we would all feel totally different about the direction of our team. Had it been ruled incomplete to start with it wouldn't have been so devastating, but when it was overturned the air went out of the players and fans. 2) We are lucky to have Robert Griffin. Since our offense is being called much differently than last year it has essentially become another rookie year for him. Couple that with the loss of an offseason to rehab instead of honing his craft and we are clearly expecting too much of him out of the gate. Yes he has had untimely miscues but I think it just shows how totally dependent we are upon him. Every success we had last year was because of Robert. Alfred Morris excelled because teams keyed on the qb, the offensive line looked ok because of Robert's mobility, everything fed off of Robert. Once we recover from the cap penalties and upgrade the offensive line, Robert will be more able to use the talent around him instead of just having to make something happen when things break down. I think he will get better and better. He will win Super Bowls.3) I guess this is the worst defense we've ever had. When we first changed to the 3-4 we were told it would take time, we didn't have the personnel. Well it's year 4 and we are as bad as ever. I don't suppose you can change to a 4-3 in the middle of the year but we might be better suited for it. Orakpo is an end, Kerrigan might be better with his hand in the dirt as well. Perry Riley in the middle and London to the old folks home (I love London, but it's happening before our eyes). And the safety situation reminds me of the John Beck/Rex Grossman year, you mean to say the staff watched these guys all through camp and preseason and decided that these are the guys that give us the best chance to win?? Rambo may develop but he looks like a 6th round pick. He may be great down the road, but safety by committee, like we ran toward the end of last year, might have been the way to start the season. Heck, Rambo may be so shell shocked that he may never recover. Somewhere Madieu Williams is enjoying this. One concern I have is the confusion, it's been that way for several years. Our secondary totally blows coverages. Is that not coaching? For all the guys that think Raheem is the answer, is it not his unit that is struggling the most? I hate to make a coaching change during the season but this is exactly the way we felt about Haslett until the late season run. But is Raheem the answer? And why can't we tackle?4) Maybe defense still wins championships, look at Seattle. 5) It has occurred to me that these are not my thoughts but just a rant, good thing I didn't try this yesterday afternoon.

And 0-5? We'll lose twice next week? We won't even lose once. Not against Oakland,

NYG's even worse BTW.

Why is it stupid? It's done that way so that the defense knows when the qb is giving himself up, and they cannot hit him. You will appreciate the rule when Sheli trips when running for a few yards and fumbles... we recover. Do you think the rule is stupid, then? All quarterbacks are coached up on the difference... do it the wrong way at your peril. That fumble was totally on Bob. He knows it, and will own it.

It was CLEAR he was sliding.

As for the overturned TD, I think I can accept that.

What a great athlete, he cant even execute a simple baseball slide. This is grade school stuff.

What's your point? Aren't you at least going to suggest a solution? Clearly you see the problem, but do you also have the smarts to know what needs to be done? Anyone can criticize; join the conversation.

And 0-5? We'll lose twice next week? We won't even lose once. Not against Oakland,

NYG's even worse BTW.

Why is it stupid? It's done that way so that the defense knows when the qb is giving himself up, and they cannot hit him. You will appreciate the rule when Sheli trips when running for a few yards and fumbles... we recover. Do you think the rule is stupid, then? All quarterbacks are coached up on the difference... do it the wrong way at your peril. That fumble was totally on Bob. He knows it, and will own it.

It was CLEAR he was sliding.

As for the overturned TD, I think I can accept that.

What a great athlete, he cant even execute a simple baseball slide. This is grade school stuff.

What's your point? Aren't you at least going to suggest a solution? Clearly you see the problem, but do you also have the smarts to know what needs to be done? Anyone can criticize; join the conversation.

He's not here to suggest. He's not here to converse. He's not here to debate.